{"id":22562,"date":"2023-03-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=22562"},"modified":"2023-04-24T16:51:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T14:51:00","slug":"art-of-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/2023\/03\/16\/art-of-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"Art of darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PODCASTS<\/h4>\n\n

Art of darkness<\/h2>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
Our podcast editor Ellie Cawthorne<\/span> discusses a recent episode exploring the creation of rock art dating back tens of thousands of years \u2013 and what it meant to those who made it<\/h5>\n\n
\n\n

Every <\/span><\/span>issue we highlight a recent edition of our podcast. You can find it along with more than 1,500 previous episodes at our website: <\/span>historyextra.com\/podcast<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
A replica of c17,000-year-old cave art depicting bulls, horses, deer and other animals in Lascaux, south-west France <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Imagine the scene: shapes shift in flickering firelight, surrounded by pitch-black darkness. Water drips down cold cave walls. A figure holds up a hand and spits red pigment, spraying flecks across the rock to create a near-perfect outline of a palm and five fingers. The mark is repeated across the wall. <\/p>\n\n

This scene, or something similar, played out more than 64,000 years ago in a cavern in what\u2019s now Spain. And the handprints those Neanderthals (yes, they made art too) created still survive today, all these millennia later. <\/p>\n\n

Prehistory can often feel incredibly distant \u2013 in terms of source material, it\u2019s the darkest recess of our past. But something that can bring us closer to humanity in its earliest years is Palaeolithic cave art. <\/p>\n\n

When Paul Pettitt, author of Homo <\/em>Sapiens <\/em>Rediscovered, <\/em>joined us on the podcast, he encouraged listeners to look at these evocative and often surprisingly accomplished paintings as their creators may have seen them. \u201cPalaeolithic people would have experienced this art in a very different way from us,\u201d said Pettitt. \u201cToday we mainly see it as still images reproduced in books, but we have to think of it as a form of installation art. Flickering light would have created shadows and a sense of movement. For a Palaeolithic viewer, I think this is all part of a mysterious journey into the depths of the Earth. In some caves, it seems to have been a very personal, almost private process \u2013 one individual communing with the darkness,\u201d he added. \u201cBut in others \u2013 like Lascaux, Chauvet or El Castillo \u2013 we have grand compositions that certainly seem to have been a communal act.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

One of the most tantalising questions Pettitt tackled was why <\/em>early humans created these artworks, which were once probably scattered across landscapes but now survive only deep in cave networks. Theories have ranged from them being \u201cart for art\u2019s sake\u201d to the products of visions from altered states of consciousness. But, Pettitt stressed, many of these umbrella theories are now outdated. <\/p>\n\n

Prey animals are overwhelmingly the most common motifs. Were they painted to ensure a successful hunt \u2013 or to give thanks for one? \u201cI would certainly say it\u2019s a celebration of creation,\u201d said Pettitt. \u201cAnimals are often placed as if they\u2019re dripping out of the ceiling. It seems to me that caves were thought of as places where animals or their spirits entered into the world \u2013 so creating these artworks was a form of midwifery.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

LISTEN NOW <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

You can hear this episode at historyextra.com\/cave-art-qa<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

THREE HISTORY EXTRA PODCASTS EXPLORING BRITISH PREHISTORY<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ancient aromas <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

What did prehistoric Britain smell like? To give us an insight, Francis Pryor took listeners on a sensory tour. \u201cI want to get inside the heads of people in the prehistoric past,\u201d Pryor told us. \u201cWhat were they thinking when they visited Stonehenge, built their houses or milked their cows? People tend to patronise the past \u2013 they think prehistoric people were simple. But the breadth of their experience was a great deal wider than you might imagine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

historyextra.com\/prehistoric-mind<\/a> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Grave concerns <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In uncovering the story of prehistoric Britain, among the most valuable sources available to us are burial sites. Broadcaster and biological anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts joined us to discuss her book Buried, <\/em>which examines seven of these prehistoric \u201ctime capsules\u201d \u2013 from a mysterious palaeolithic \u201cRed Lady\u201d (who turned out to be a man), found in a coastal cave, to an Iron Age chariot burial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

historyextra.com\/archaeology-alice<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Circular arguments <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Stonehenge encapsulates some of the most enduring mysteries of prehistoric Britain. Why was it built? How <\/em>was it built? And why did makers lug colossal bluestones all the way from west Wales to create it? Mike Pitts tackled these questions and more for our Everything You Wanted to Know <\/em>series. There were so many mysteries to explore that it spanned two episodes! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

historyextra.com\/stonehenge-pod <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PODCASTS Art of darkness Our podcast editor Ellie Cawthorne discusses a recent episode exploring the creation of rock art dating back tens of thousands of years \u2013 and what it meant to those who made it Every issue we highlight a recent edition of our podcast. You can find it along with more than 1,500 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":22841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"82","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"82","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_82-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_82-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"April-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"April-2023","purple_external_id":"April-2023-82-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"April-2023-82-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000085643||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000085643||","purple_android_product":"com.im.historymag.293","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.historymag.293","purple_ios_product":"com.im.historymag.293","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.historymag.293","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"de2d4977-6998-4200-99aa-454f8dbebdf9","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2023-04-24T14:37:12Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"14241dbd-61a4-4919-8e69-e2130322eab6","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2023-04-24T14:51:10Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AFCQdvWGkSRmOaeITAyLqtg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\""},"categories":[19],"tags":[46],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/GettyImages_122225376-e1678206357482.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/GettyImages_122225376-e1678206357482.jpg",1670,1120,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/GettyImages_122225376-e1678206357482-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/GettyImages_122225376-e1678206357482-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/GettyImages_122225376-e1678206357482-768x515.jpg",768,515,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/GettyImages_122225376-e1678206357482-1024x687.jpg",800,537,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/GettyImages_122225376-e1678206357482-1536x1030.jpg",1536,1030,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2023\/03\/GettyImages_122225376-e1678206357482.jpg",1670,1120,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"PODCASTS Art of darkness Our podcast editor Ellie Cawthorne discusses a recent episode exploring the creation of rock art dating back tens of thousands of years \u2013 and what it meant to those who made it Every issue we highlight a recent edition of our podcast. You can find it along with more than 1,500…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22562"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23585,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22562\/revisions\/23585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}